A Way To Garden

A Way To Garden

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margaret roach, head gardener

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overwintering rosemary, indoors and out

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THIS ONE COMES UP EVERY FALL (especially from gardeners in Zones less favorable for it than 7ish): How do I keep my rosemary plant happy all winter? The answer: Cool sunshine—that rarest of indoor conditions in a heated house in the year’s darkest days, and not a guaranteed steady diet weather-wise outdoors many places, either. How to accommodate Rosmarinus officinalis, outdoors or in.  

Start with a cold-hardy cultivar if you plant to try to overwinter rosemary in the ground in other than a truly frost-free hardiness zone. ‘Arp’ is the best known, along with ‘Hill Hardy’ (also known as ‘Madalene Hill’ after the late herb gardener from Texas; ‘Arp’ was her discovery, by the way, the result of her search for plants that could take not extremes of cold but the Texas heat). Oregon-based Nichols Garden Nursery’s owner touts ‘Nichols Select’ as being a toughie, too.

It’s “as hardy as any I’ve grown, probably Zone 6B, and the flavor is terrific,” Rose Marie Nichols McGee in an interview one spring. “It was planted 25 years ago at our home and survived minus-7 degrees F once. I think this is your best for a long-lived rosemary.”

The U.S. National Arboretum website reports on trials of more than four-dozen cultivars of rosemary, and how they fare on all scores. Even in USDA Zone 7A, the gardeners there take the precautionary measure of taking cuttings from the collection, in case winter causes havoc that cannot be anticipated with the herb-garden inhabitants. (I pinch or prune my rosemary back a bit–not to start cuttings, but to freeze the delicious sprigs for use in winter like this, and keep the plant tighter.)

Proper location and care will help keep the well-chosen plant happy. Nichols McGee advises “helping it along with some lime or bone meal worked into the soil and provide good drainage,” and planting rosemary in a well-drained position with six hours a day or more of direct or very slightly filtered sunlight. Many Zone 6ish Northerners optimistically try one of those extra-hardy cultivars planted in a sheltered spot, such as by a wall, and then mulch heavily after frost.

“What is hardest on our woody plants, including rosemary,” she adds, “is wet soil followed by temps that drop way down near zero then warm and drop again with considerable frost heaving.” In her Pacific Northwest location, she says they don’t mulch around the trunk and root zone, “but do make generous use of garden blankets, throwing one or two layers over plants we’re worried about.”

For container-grown plants, she says, whenever temps are going down to the low 20s all rosemary will benefit from protection. “If you have a garage or cool porch, pull your plant into this sheltered area until the harsh cold passes (which might be all winter in the colder zones; make sure the garage or porch will stay a safe temp throughout the needed timespan). Move it back to its regular position when temperatures moderate.”

So what if there is no such spot, if even with a temporary garden blanket it’s just too tough outside where you live? Here’s where the “cool sunshine” trick really gets tricky. You’ll be looking for a spot near a sunny, southern window (west might also work), where the temperature is around 50 to 60 degrees.  My mudroom is right, I think, so that’s what I will try—but many of us don’t have enough light in winter. Think about adding a supplemental plant light–which can really help with many tender things that keep their leaves year-round like rosemary. We’ve all seen rosemary and other evergreens being tortured indoors with too little light get all stretched out, or etiolated.

Have a rosemary in the ground that you fear should have been in a pot, so it could come indoors? A third option would have been to dig it and pot it up for the winter, but that’s best done around Labor Day, to give the plant a chance to adapt to its new tight quarters before the added shock of indoor life begins. A very fast-draining mixture–perhaps with a few inches of gravel at the bottom of a generous-sized pot for added insurance–is best.

Very important: Don’t overwater. Remember, no wet feet, especially in winter—whether that’s inside or out, in a pot or in the ground. And again: Freeze some sprigs, just in case.

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71 comments
October 18, 2012

comments

  1. Alissa says

    September 24, 2018 at 8:15 am

    I’m on year 4 or 5 with a trailing rosemary that overwinters well indoors. We live in a forest (5a) with little summer sun, and the rosemary grows about as much indoors as out once the day length increases in the spring. We have floor to ceiling SE windows so it’s very bright in the house in the winter, especially with the snow. Before this trailing rosemary, I killed many different rosemary plants by March – it’s one of those situations where I’m glad I persisted! It’s potted in a cactus soil and I water lightly. I don’t mist, bathe it, or do anything special other then a little fish emulsion & kelp fertilizer when I remember. We do trim sprigs regularly for cooking.

    Reply
    • margaret says

      September 24, 2018 at 9:09 am

      Good job, Alissa! I will be on the lookout for this type.

      Reply
  2. Jean Hamel says

    November 3, 2019 at 8:14 am

    Great newsletter.Thank you so much.Overwinteribg, leaves removal suggestions.

    Reply
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Podcast: Soups, Soups & More Soups

I’VE FOLLOWED a vegetarian diet for decades, but it wasn’t until just a few years ago that I mastered a really good vegetable soup. Now I’m learning variations on vegetable-based soups, plus ones with beans and even ideas for mushroom soups, too–all thanks to Alexandra Stafford and these recipes. (Stream it below, read the transcript or subscribe free.)

https://robinhoodradioondemand.com/podcast-player/6211/vegetable-soup-ideas-with-ali-stafford-november-5-a-way-to-garden-with-margaret-roach.mp3

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awaytogarden

mad gardener, nature addict, award-winning writer & podcaster, rural resident, corporate dropout, creator of awaytogarden dot com and matching book.

Instagram post 2190297402408409324_444552553 Snow day. To be followed by a snow night. #awaytogarden #wavehillchairs
Instagram post 2177779417009402040_444552553 No matter that it was 11F and 17F on mornings this week; my lifelong companions and I are all tucked in, each in our respective offseason spots. Three giant pots of #cliviaminiata that are actually pieces of my long-gone grandmother’s original plant from many, many decades ago, love the offseason bright cold of the mudroom, and get no water till around the new year or so. They need a chill (under 50 but above 35) for about 40 days to trigger timely bloom in late winter/early spring (without it they will bloom whenever, later, like June or even summer). The #alocasia reacts to the cold of the mudroom by shutting down and going dormant and leafless, and then I’ll let it sleep till late winter, when I give it a drink to see if it awakens. That one sleeps and wakes on its own timetable because I do not have a proper spot for it (ideally warm, like 60 or 65 at least, and humid and bright...no can do the humid part here). We have been together probably 10 years anyhow, despite my shortcomings as a #plantparent . #alocasiaamazonica #clivias #houseplantsofinstagram #houseplants #awaytogarden
Instagram post 2172580656557749859_444552553 Gardener: “I raked all the leaves!” Nature: “Oh, really?” (Cue sound of demonic laughter from on high.)
Instagram post 2170506606641504178_444552553 I wanna tell you how it’s gonna be You’re gonna give your love to me I wanna love you night and day You know my love will not fade away Not fade away Nope. Not this #cotinus leaf’s fiery hot love at least. Like the 1957 #buddyholly song I first heard by #therollingstones in 1964, it keeps going. #awaytogarden #fallfoliage2019 #cotinusgrace #notfadeaway
Instagram post 2168987273989949378_444552553 “Jack Frost nipping at your, er, geraniums...” And here it comes.
Instagram post 2166837817953503284_444552553 Constant companions: If you want to keep good company all winter, grow some good keepers. My house is stuffed with piles of #cucurbita awaiting their time in the oven or soup kettle. Each one is a character, distinctive. On one chair in the mudroom two close cousins in #cucurbitamoschata — the horse collar-shaped one called ‘Tromboncino’ or ‘Tromboncino Rampicante’ snuggles with some ‘Butternut.’ The ‘Tromboncino’ are better eaten green and small as #zucchini but I can’t resist their eventual mad size and shape, big enough to wear around your neck. I use their meat for enriching vegetable stock; the ‘Butternut’ are far more rich and delicious. Seed respectively from sandhillpreservation.com #sandhillpreservationcenter and @turtle_tree_seed (whose ‘Butternut,’ selected for “lastingness” for decades, will keep and keep into next spring or more). #wintersquash #awaytogarden #goodkeeper #cucurbitaceae
Instagram post 2162565040882902064_444552553 Furry fall friend: I look forward to crossing paths with this woolly caterpillar of the #giantleopardmoth this time of year, when its fiery intersegmental bands and plush coat seem to be just the right autumn-into-winter look. Miraculously this tiny animal will overwinter in a woodpile or in the leaf litter, even here in the North, building up a concentration of antifreeze (glycerol I think?) in its cells before the worst weather begins to avoid disaster. (Reminds me of the super-hardy #woodfrog who does similarly. Such heroes.) Swipe to see a beat-up pic of the adult moth, tattered with scales missing at its wing margins, but still dramatic. Unlike various spine-covered caterpillars that can sting you, this one’s hairs (or setae) won’t, but he will roll up tight if touched, in self-defense. I am in awe of such complex strategies of survival, I am. #mothsofinstagram #caterpillars #awaytogarden #hypercompescribonia #hypercompe
Instagram post 2161992098629435854_444552553 Beans are life. I mean, not only do I live on them daily (as I have as a vegetarian for 40+ years) but each one is a seed, a living embryo, a distinct and gorgeous little DNA miracle. I have been inspired by the hashtag #31daysofbeans by @lukasvolger lately, loving watching someone unknown to me (um, who shares my oatmeal thing too apparently...also see his #28daysofoatmeal) dish up the #phaseolus. We both admire bean ambassador Steve Sando @rancho_gordo and this photo might be my fave bean of all that I “met” via Steve years back, big and flat and chestnutty ‘Christmas Lima.’ My advice: don’t wait till Dec. 25 to dig in.
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Welcome! I’m Margaret Roach, a leading garden writer for 25 years—at ‘Martha Stewart Living,’ ‘Newsday,’ and in three books. I host a public-radio podcast; I also lecture, plus hold tours at my 2.3-acre Hudson Valley (NY) Zone 5B garden, and always say no to chemicals and yes to great plants.

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